Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Interview with Melissa De La Cruz ~ Gates Of Paradise!

We would like to welcome Melissa De La Cruz to Two Women and a Book Review. It was an absolute honor to be apart of Gates of Paradise blog tour.

1. You brought two completely different worlds together and combined them which has not been done the way you did it. What kind of steps did you take to make sure these two worlds came together as smoothly as they have?

As to the worlds - do you mean the Witches of East End and the Blue Bloods universe? Or angels and vampires? I'm not quite sure. I think for me, it comes naturally to mix mythologies and stories and worlds, maybe because I came from a colonized country (the Philippines was a colony of the US), I am an immigrant to America, and I've navigated every world from the working to the upper classes, never quite fitting in anywhere, but always sort of figuring out the rules of the world I'm currently in. Being an outsider is pretty powerful, it's a great tool. I'm a product of many cultures and many beliefs, and I think that shows in my work, I've learned to see things from many different perspectives, which is helpful when you're a writer.

2. What is the single most powerful challenge you came across when you were writing Gates of Paradise?

I think just starting,

3. Do you have any regrets?

It would have been nice to have had just a little more time with the ending, but I also hate when endings drag on. I know some readers want me to write "longer" but I'm just not that type of writer, I can't go on and on and on once something's already been figured out. I've always loved the Diana Wynne Jones model, in Castle in the Air, once Sophie and Howl figure out they love each other, it's like a paragraph, that's it. The end! I always liked that. She would have a twisty plot and then once everything was figured out it would end tidily.

4. [THIS IS A SPOILER --> PLEASE WARN PEOPLE!!!] What made you decide to make Oliver a Vampire in Gates of Paradise?

In my original draft of Blue Bloods, the first book, Ollie actually was a vampire, and I changed him when I figured out he was a conduit - and I think his journey - he's always been so instrumental to vampire society - so it just makes sense. He's an outsider who becomes the ultimate insider, and I really enjoyed showing that transformation.

5. If you had to do it over, would you change anything in Gates of Paradise?

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